1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to the field of log trucking. More specifically the present invention comprises a method of optimizing log truck productivity utilizing technology allowing the entry of log truck orders from the field.
2. Description of the Related Art
The log trucking industry has long been made up of very independent contractors owning a small number of trucks. These hauling contractors typically form relationships with one logger, and haul almost exclusively for that logger. Because many of such contractors are unreliable, loggers have increasingly turned to owning and operating their own trucks.
Typically log trucks are driven home each night and then driven directly to the woods in the morning. The truck will then go back and forth from this one tract to many mills. At the end of the day, the driver will drive home empty or take a load with them to the house that will be delivered the next morning. This approach results in the driver driving many miles unloaded. A log truck operating in this fashion travels loaded less than 45% of the time, whereas the long-haul trucking industry obtains nearly 90% loaded miles.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical route for a log truck driver. For the first trip, the driver may drive a substantial distance unloaded to logger LA to pick up a first load. From there, the driver takes the first load to Mill 2. The driver then returns to logger LA to pick up a second load. The second load is taken to Mill 1, and the driver returns to logger LA to pick up a third load. The driver takes the third load to Mill 4 and then returns home with an empty trailer for the day.
The rising cost of fuel is causing the forest industry to reevaluate the sustainability of such a model. Because the drivers, the logging areas, and the mills are geographically dispersed, many opportunities exist to reduce the rate of empty hauling.
Although optimization solutions have long been used in the long haul industry, many factors have prevented the log trucking industry from developing analogous optimized hauling solutions for the log trucking field. For example, the highly independent nature of log truck contractors has prevented them from developing coordinated networks with loggers in their region. In addition, the locations in which tracts of timber are harvested are often located in areas where typical communication or internet services are not available. In the long haul industry loads typically originate from mills or sites where loads are stored well in advance. Loads are sent to trucking companies via telephone calls or internet-based solutions. Since the logging industry does not have this luxury, optimization routing and dispatch software have yet to be employed in any large fashion.
Communication devices that are GPS (Global Positioning System) enabled have been used in the long haul trucking industry since the late 1980's. These systems use several means to send information to the truck, such as satellite, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), cellular or radio. These systems typically contain some sort of modem to send and receive data, a GPS unit to determine a latitude and longitude coordinate, and a graphical user interface to read and send messages. The long haul industry has used these types of devices for years to send information to truckers about their next load and directions to the pickup and drop off location.
These devices also have the ability to send information from a truck back to a centralized dispatch location. Messages may include estimated time of arrival, breakdown or delay information. Despite the availability of such technology, the industry has yet to develop a solution to enable loggers and log truckers to coordinate more efficient log routing to reduce the distances trucks drive with empty loads.